Saturday 16 MAY, Vijiji Home of Light

Saturday, May 16, 2009 we went to Shabbat service in the morning. We were late due to very heavy traffic and a fund-raising walk for operating rooms for children. The service was held at a very nice club, in a meeting room surrounded with windows opening onto a park-like setting. Gail and I had the opportunity to share with the fellowship why we are in Kenya, a little about homeschooling, and also about home birth. This group of people is interested in learning Hebrew so they have the tools to study the Tanakh in the original language. They are also advocates of home education. The music was a mixture of English and Swahili and Hebrew.

After the service we went to an Ethiopian restaurant, Smart Village, in a large “hut.” We sat on couches around low tables. The food was brought in pots and served on a circle of njira (fermented rice tortilla, we think) covering a large platter shared by 3-4 people. We ate with our fingers. It was very good.

Our afternoon activity took us to an orphanage in Mwimuto, Kenya, called Vijiji Home of Light. Vijiji means village. The home was started by John Mwasi, his mother, and others. The home is largely supported by donations from the United States, but those have dwindled with our economic problems. There are about 30 children there, most under the age of 12. The facility is a three bedroom house. The well for the house no longer works so a truck brings water once a week. John and the “teacher,” Lucy, were interested in the possibility of schooling the children in the home rather than sending them off to school. Gail and Mary spent quite a bit of time talking with John and Lucy about the possibilities and providing encouragement. John and his wife would also like to homeschool their own daughter, and I had the opportunity to share with him some things I learned about being the dad in a homeschooling family.

Mwimuto is a mixture of poor and rich like much of Kenya. After driving past some very large estates, we turned off the main road onto a dirt area that opened into a small market. At the end of that we turned left between two stores and then proceeded up a long lane just wide enough for our car and a person (in some places). This is when it felt good to be in a Land Rover. I have no idea how a water truck gets up this lane. At one point we came upon another car. Fortunately it was pointed in the same direction we were. Unfortunately, it was reversing (Kenyan for backing up). It backed into a small lane that led up to a fenced property, and we were able to pass.

I am still amazed as to how traffic actually flows in Nairobi. I actually saw three traffic lights and one stop sign today (during 2 hours of travel). Traffic flow is like molten lava. It merges and divides in a sort of slow motion. If you squint just a little, the cars actually look like lava, and the smoke from the exhaust just completes the effect. It is incredible that there are so few collisions. Twice today we encountered gridlock as one of the four cars stuck in a mosaic pattern in the middle of an intersection, each blocking the others as some wanted to turn. Yeshaia said this is very common and he has had to get out and direct traffic on some occasions. Things do not move until someone finds a way to back up (oops, reverse) and give way to one of the other cars.

We went past a crosswalk painted on the pavement, and I asked if drivers need to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. Yeshaia, our driver, looked at me and laughed. The important thing is not to hit someone, but there is very little yielding in Nairobi. An ambulance with siren and lights passed going in the other direction. They did not appear to have any advantage in the traffic over any of the other cars or busses.

Home in time for supper. Yum!